Selling calves

[cowman]

It always amazes me how some people sell their calves. Just load everything and dump them at the presort...usually after chasing them through the bush for a couple of hours!
Almost every calf can be profitable if you get them sold right(well pre-BSE!). Know what the market wants and try to fill that demand. So if this week they want steers in a certain weight range then try to take those types in. If you got a bunch of tailenders keep them and feed them a bit until they are bigger.
Make sure you've got them cut and dehorned and don't send anything that is sick or lame!
It is very easy to just load them all and get rid of your problems but it isn't getting you the return you deserve!

[pandiana]

Very good advice, cowman. What resources to you use to determine what the buyers want? How much time do you have to fill these specs? It seems to me quite often it is a crap shoot as to what buyers are paying on any given week.

[kato]

We spent a lot of time over the years at the auction mart. Get to know the buyers, and what they are looking for. Talk to them. This networking is the best investment you can make. Once you get to know who is who, you can see what kind of orders they have, just by watching them bid, and try and bring what fills those orders.

You can soon see what is selling, and what's not. Fix what is wrong with yours before they leave home, and you'll do a lot better.

You'd be surprised at how important your reputation is. These guys seem to know where the cattle are coming from when they bid on them, and if they know you're not going to 'slide' some losers in the load, and that you pay attention to your health status, you will be rewarded for it. It takes a long time to get to that point, though, so you have to be persistent. They also remember the 'one nutters' and the chronic bloaters and the burnouts too, so you have to keep your standards up.

Taking a loss on the losers can pay off, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time. We aren't afraid to feed the limpers and gimpers ourselves, just to keep them out of the auction mart.

[cswilson]

TRhe place to sort up your calves is at home-when you go to town sewnd a nice even set. What we do is gather do our sort-then have the mart operator come have a look before we head to town-if there are any outs I want them taken out at home. The more size the cattle have the kinder the sort is also. Our calves go in one cut as finished cattle-maybe 3 if sold as yearlings and if we sold calves I'm sure they'd carve the hell out of them if we just loaded and went to town.

[grassfarmer]

Lots of guys should start sorting calves sooner too - not before the trucks arrive but before the bulls go out. It amazes me how many herds you see where there is no predominant breed or colour - just a mixture of breeds, sizes and colours. Throw in three different breeds of bull and no amount of sorting will make your calves popular.

[grassfarmer]

The ones that I get ripped off about are those that never keep a replacement heifer on the place, just buys CHEAP breds or pairs and then turn out the cheapest bulls they can find. In the fall they bring a heinz 57 bunch of calves to town, then sit at the market beside someone that has a good set of cows, uses good bulls and has uniform calves and cries like heck because their calves don't sell as high !!!

[cswilson]

Thats what presorts are all about sliding a few wringers in with the good ones. Most guys with good cattle do better at a regular sale in my opinion. Personally I never buy calves from presorts for that reason.

[15444]

emrald1:

Join the crowd. Your not the only one that gets ticked at people like that. They are also the ones that breed cattle that buck the market trends and expect to get top dollar at the market! And then bitch like hell afterwards about how the mart and the buyers screwed him.

[15444]

Orrrrrrrrrrr
You can become part of a vertically integrated market, feeding your own cattle for a locked in rail price for each and every carcass.

Couldn't resist a sales pitch on this one.

call me for lunch
rpkaiser@telusplanet.net

[oxbow]

rpkaiser,

Ding, we have a winner. In US money, the giant feedyards are feeding for just under $.50# for good healthy calves, but feed costs are only about $.25 on good calves. That $.20# difference pays the producer's time, manure hauling, pen and waterer upkeep, feedmill power and upkeep, and feedtruck fuel and maintenance. If you have 1500 on feed gaining conservatively 3.25#/day, you're going to have about $1000/day to cover nonfeed costs. My entire ranch flows better when I keep at least 1000 head on feed, and it's not very hard to feed 1000 or 1500 head. You just can't get behind working on a feedtruck or feedmill.